Time to settle down

I got back from End of the Road festival today, and so marks the last of my holidays for a while I think. Still, there’s always graduation to look forward to! Not far away now!

I’ve never been to a festival or gig where I’ve instantly loved or hated bands (I’m usually pretty undecided), and this is why End of the Road is my favourite festival. Somehow they bring together new amazing bands for your musically lustful ears, but occasionally they fall short and a couple of bad seeds wiggle their way in. This makes the whole thing more interesting, because I love being a hypocrite and bitching about other people’s musical talents when I have barely any myself; it gives me a great feeling of smugness and satisfaction. I blame my Dad for this. And Ed, a little bit.

So anyway, I’ve always been a great fan of lists- here’s my loves and hates of the whole shindig;

I LOVED:

Willis Earl Beal (the best live performance I’ve ever seen; one man, a deep dark soul and a

Dirty Three (crazy mad instrumentals mixed in with deluded world advice)

The Antlers (dreamy melodic tunes that send you into a pleasant trance)

I DISLIKED (hate is such a strong word):

Dirty Beaches (no interaction with the crowd and the drummer was out of time)

Grandaddy (I’ve hated them ever since an ex boyfriend included them on a mix CD for me)

Alabama Shakes (Just boring, not my cup of tea at all)

Dark Dark Dark (again boring)

Lanterns on the Lake (I saw them the year before and I was determined to give them another go, but I still don’t like them)

There were other bands such as Beach House which were very mediocre (no stage presence) but who I like recorded so I won’t bother lumping them into a category- let’s focus on the extremes!

Some of my favourite memories were screaming at Matt whilst in the Silent Disco in the Big Top because Stereolab was being played and he’d taken off his headphones. I love Silent Discos. The same evening we went to watch The Shining, and I’d forgotten what an awesome film it is. After reading the Donnie Darko book recently I felt the need to see it again, so it was very convenient that it was playing in the cinema there.

I plucked up the courage to go and buy some merch from Frànçios and Jeffrey Lewis, and I got both of them to sign my purchases- an LP from Frànçios and a copy of Fuff from Jeffrey. I even gave some of my stickers to Frànçios as a thank you for putting on such a brilliant show- he can really dance! I wish I had something better to give him but it’s all I had in my bag. The Fuff comic is brilliant; I love the way Jeffrey writes as if he’s talking to a friend. I picked up a t-shirt from his brother Jack too which is for his new band Awkward Energy– I’ll check them out tomorrow.

Now it’s back to the real world, applying for jobs and trying to get motivated to make new work. I’m having a meeting this week with the collective bunch so that’ll help.